The Last Thoughts of Itachi Uchiha
by Aki and Akiko
Summary: Itachi's last thoughts and memories. Spoilers. Itachi's struggles and burden merely glimpsed at.


The Last Thoughts of Uchiha Itachi

**Disclaimer: I Do not own Naruto, or anything in any way related.**

**Speed write, wrote it in a little under a half and hour. :D Call it a...quickie. XD**

**People say, your life flashes before your eyes when you die…I only wished it weren't true.**

_**These….eyes…**_

**Curse theses Eyes! This is the thing I say, and I say them with the venom of the all snakes of my soul. If only…**

"_Brother!" a dark-haired boy called out between enormous breaths, his little chest puffing, the insignia on his clothes arching back with every blow of the wind._

_Uchiha._

_Itachi smiled sadly, almost painfully it seems, turning slowly to the small figure dashing toward him._

"_Brother!" the boy echoed again, drawing close to his target._

_Itachi flinched, as the voice ran through his head…knowing what he was to do that day…_

_Brother. Brother. __**Brother.**_

_The very meaning tore his sole to pieces, his heart to shreds._

"_Broth….Brothe-r!" he boy jumped forward, his little lungs collapsing under the strain of his breathing._

Poke. Using his index and middle finger, Itachi had completely stopped his younger brother, as he had done so many times before.

"_Not today, Sasuke…" Itachi eyes scanned his sibling over, taking in every bit of his brother in his infinite bliss. The joyous face he would never see again._

"_But, Nii-san, you promised…!" whined the boy, bouncing on his little toes. The boy was pouting, but grinning all the same._

_Itachi smiled sadly, that same sad smile, foreshadowing his entire life, his burden. The smile…._

"_Another time, Sasuke…"_

_That was the day it happened._

The battle field was torn to shreds, the remains of a war between two of the three surviving Uchiha. Sasuke stood, unable to move, back against a slate of earth thrown up by the chaos. Through the smoke and smog, the fire and fog, stumbled Itachi…bleeding seemingly from every pore on his body, save his face. No, only his eyes bled, screaming their release from their disgusted sockets, screaming for release, for the freedom of death…

"_Sarutobi!" _

_The old man turned slowly, weariness from nights spent pacing and thinking, turning ideas over and throwing them away._

"_Please…" the young man was kneeling, knuckle to brow, submitting himself to the Hokage of the Leaf Village. The village…he loved._

"_Take care of him. I beg you…" Tears poured down the cheeks of the teen, the person to destroy the entire Uchiha clan. Save one. By choice._

"_Take care of…Sasuke!"_

Sasuke stood there, rooted to his spot, looking on with fear at his brother. Staring into his eyes. His…empty eyes. The eyes he had learned to hate. The eyes he had trained so hard to destroy, to obliterate from all memory. But now…he was powerless. He was nothing. It was over. Itachi would kill him. Itachi was mere feet away, staggering slowly upon a fear-consumed Sasuke, the energy sapped from his body. Itachi looked at nothing in particular, not his brother, not his wounds…just…staring. Staring into nothingness. The nothingness he longed for. The nothingness of which he was long due.

"_So…It is settled?"_

"_Yes, Uchiha Itachi has been given his orders…"_

"_Good. With the Uchiha clan taken care of, the land can remain intact…"_

"_There…is one problem…"_

"…"

"_Uchiha Sasuke, Itachi's younger brother, is to be spared."_

"_What?! My specific orders to Itachi were to wipe out all! Every single one! We cannot risk a survivor!"_

"_So what? Itachi is to take the fall! No one will question it."_

"…_But…"_

"_Only the four us know, Danzou…"_

"_What if I chose to rid us of the boy, without Itachi's knowledge…"_

"_You will do no such thing!"_

"_I agree with Sarutobi... besides…"_

"…_?"_

"_Itachi has already made it clear we were not to interfere with his choice to leave his brother alive. He claims to be willing to tell other villages our weaknesses should we do such a thing."_

"…"

"…"

"_He wouldn't. He loves the Leaf far too much. He is willing to kill his own clan at our orders! He was is our spy-"_

"_-Do not forget, Danzou, that I opposed this choice. I seeked a peaceful solution. The fact that the Uchiha clan wished to overthrow the Leaf was none fault but our own, for allowing the balance of power to be swept away…between the Senju clan and that of the Uchiha!"_

"_Sarutobi, you are far too soft! This. Is this the only solution… Had we allowed the Uchiha to overthrow the village, other villages would attack us in our weakness! Our allies would rush to our defense, and their eneimies will take the offense! A War, Sarutobi, alike we have never seen before! Itachi must bear this burden! He must save this World from itself!"_

"_Regardless of either of your opinions of the subject, the Uchiha boy must live, lest we risk taking the lives of millions for the life of one…"_

He was inches from his brother know, his bloody right hand lifted to shoulder length, index and middle finger jutting forward. Closing in on his brother, slowly…slowly. The wind blew softly, sweeping the hair from his face, lifting his clouded cloak. Sasuke looked on with terror as Itachi closed the gap…inches from his body.

**And so it leaves me. My soul. I…have nothing. I tried Sasuke…I succeeded. I protected you. Fed you these lies. Lies…that I didn't love. That I didn't love my little brother. I made you stronger. I pushed you to the limit…I gave you your eyes Sasuke. But you will never know. The only ones that do know will never tell. I die, with this secret. I love you, Sasuke. As only a true brother…can. I leave you this Brother. Your body and soul intact, proof of my love. And my eyes…they are yours. My power…is yours. By your hand I have died, all is as planned…hate me brother, cling to life…!**

Itachi was face to face with Sasuke know, his hands lifted to Sasuke's forhead. Sasuke went crossedeyed watching the hands…The bloody fingers of his rival, the man he hated with so much reason, and yet with none.

Poke.

The fingers stood erect against the forehead of Uchiha Sasuke. The last time…

"_Brother! Brother! __**Brother!"**_

Itachi shifted his empty eyes, holding Sasuke's in his own. He pulled his fingers away ever so slowly, Itachi smiled. That sad smile…

"_Maybe next time, Sasuke…"_

"_Nii-san!"_

Confusion in his eyes, Sasuke stared into the eyes of, in his knowledge, the last living member of Uchiha clan besides himself…

"I'm sorry, Sasuke…" Itachi whispered hoarsely. The words caught Sasuke of guard. So did his tears.

"There wont be a next time…" Itachi smiled that sad smile unique to himself, his mission over…

Itachi fell, his lifeless body hitting the earth, his cut soul departed from him. Itachi Uchiha…was dead.

He completed his mission. Sasuke would never know of his sacrifice. As he wanted it. Yes, Itachi had destroyed the Uchiha clan on orders of the Leaf. Yes, this is a major spoiler. Yes, Itachi left Sasuke alive because he loved him. Itachi believed noone else knew besides the ones too afraid to speak it…but one more knew. Itachi was dying on the inside, a disease he took a lot of medication to compress. Until he could send his brother away with his power.


End file.
